While I'd love to go a full year I'm also realistic enough to know that's a pretty lofty goal. Our winters are pretty darn harsh and my wife gets nervous if I ride too much below zero. If the snow gets deep I'm just not motivated enough to leave hours ahead of time in order to bust my way through it before the plows run. Our never-ending wind while annoying in the summer can become dangerous in the winter. I'll ride most of the time this winter, but the cards would have to align perfectly for me not to drive at all.

Baby steps. :) My next goal is 150 days. Then I'll re-evaluate.

As expected, super fast heading north yesterday afternoon. I felt like an A-group rider, cruising easily at 20-25 mph on the flats, and even getting up to about 30 in places where I usually barely crack 20.

However the wind was gusting up over 25 mph straight out of the southeast, so on the sections where I turned east, some of those gusts brought me to nearly a standstill. So unfortunately the ride home wasn't as fast as I'd hoped for, it was about 69 minutes. Still far better than 90 minutes from the morning commute.

Right before the turn into my neighborhood I passed a small medical clinic office which has a metal roof, and I could see a couple of the metal roof panel sheets trying to peel off in the wind. There were a couple of people walking out who I assumed were employees, so I yelled out as I passed by "YOUR ROOF IS COMING OFF!!!" No idea if they heard me or not, or if they cared or did anything about it. Oh well.

Crazy rain last night. Monday and Tuesday together we picked up nearly 5 inches of rain. We were an inch below normal for the month before this week, now we're at least 3 inches above normal.

I don't know about you "guys" (guys of both genders) but the weather sure is mild here, well above seasonal normal. This afternoon's ride home was in 12C weather, 12C above normal daily highs. However, the forecast for the rest of the days of this week and next week are for temps more like normal. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Bad ride in the rain. Tons of leaves. Destroyed my roller clutch hub. Slips under pressure now. What a bummer.

A new low for my evening commute to work. According to Accuweather on my phone it was 0*F at 19:00 in Anchorage AK. Boy am I slow in that kind of temps.
Justin

This morning the commute in was very nice and even warm with the temp at 42f degrees when I left the house. I was confused on how to dress and had to take my jacket off before even getting on the bike. I brought it with me just in case.

My hours at work are changed so I can ride home in the light in the afternoon, which means I start earlier in the am.

The problem with a long streak is the longer it gets the more determined you become in the quest (at least for me). I hit the five year mark back in October, but around then we moved from DC over into VA and I now have an 11-mile commute one way. I think the streak ends once winter sets in.

No signs of winter yet: 63F / 18C, light rain. This is November?

I totally lucked out with this storm system that dropped all the snow in Colorado and Kansas, then gave the crazy winds and rain to Kansas City and Indy. I had a bit of wind going home last night, but nothing too crazy.

The rain started last night around 7:30, well after I got home. It was just light rain for a while and then came down heavier during the night. By the time my 6am alarm went off it was pretty well cleared out.

My ride was on pretty wet roads and my feet were bit damp from spray, but I was dry overall. And this was the warmest morning of the week at 64F. Forecast is for a high of 72.

I forgot to mention the deer that I saw this morning. I saw one about to cross in front of me. He slipped a bit on the wet road, but was far enough ahead of me that it wasn't close. But I saw his buddy about to try the same thing. If he had kept going we may have been on a collision course. He made a quick turn and then paralleled the road for a bit and raced me for about 30 yards until he turned away.

That's why you randomly pick a day, drive in and stop the streak, so that it doesn't feel obligatory. I figure after one year you've handled everything already.

We're supposed to get some freezing mornings in a day or two, that's winter enough for me.

Same here. Had a great tailwind for the ride home last night. Sort of fun to see my old (heavy) commuter bike hitting those kind of speeds!

A little cooler for the ride in this morning (35F/1.6C), and finally a break from the crazy winds. I left my shoe covers at work last night, so my toes just started getting a little cold by the time I arrived. Actually my hands were the coldest. Wore a pair of gloves that were just a little too thin. Otherwise, a fantastic commute!

About 20 degrees cooler this morning than it was Tuesday morning, but no wind this time. Dang I'm slow(er) when it gets cold.

I was jipped! By the time I got going home the winds had died to a paltry 10-12mph. A little cool this morning, mid 40's and headwind again. But something strange happened - the sun came out

Consecutive commute #143 :

Today was another tough one, both weather-wise and logistically.

Weather-wise, it was 27 degrees with a 30+ mph headwind that dropped the wind chill down into the low teens. I bundled up and wasn't too bad except for my feet. My bike shoes are ventilated which is nice in the summer but crazy cold in the winter. I need to get some warmer SPD shoes for the in-between days when it's cold enough to need warmth but not yet snowy enough to make me switch to my winter boots. Don't want to spend the money for them right now though.

Anyway, the wind coming straight at me dropped my speed to 10-11 mph even though I was on my road bike which handles wind much better than my hybrid. I would gear down and try to spin but the gusts would still make me feel like I was mashing. Going up hills my speed would drop into the single digits and my heart rate was racing just to maintain what little speed I had. Thankfully the wind had calmed from the 60+ mph speeds that happened during the night. One advantage of my slower pace was I was able to see several tree branches that had fallen on the MUP in time to avoid them in the dark. Even with my bright headlight they would blend into the pavement and I wouldn't see them until they were directly in front of me. Three or four times I stopped to move large limbs that had fallen and were blocking the path. Mornings like this you realize how easy it is to outride your lights even on a bicycle.

The logistical challenge started yesterday. A co-worker hit a deer with his car earlier this week and had an appointment to drop his car off at a body shop across town. He asked if I would be willing to pick him up at the shop this morning and take him to work. So I had a dilemma. I really didn't want to break my streak by driving, but at the same time I didn't want to be a jerk and tell him "no" because I knew he didn't have anyone else to ask and didn't have money for a cab.

So I devised a solution: I got up an hour earlier than normal (yeech) and rode my bicycle to work and showered as normal. I then borrowed the company car (reserved it yesterday) and drove down to the body shop to pick him up. I was back at the office 15 minutes before my usual start time (which is about when I normally get to my desk anyway.) So while I did drive a car this morning, I didn't use it to get myself from home to work, and vice-versa so I'm allowing my streak to stay active on a technicality. :)

On a positive note, I broke 4000 miles for the calendar year today. Previous to this year my best was 2361 miles. I've still got another month and a half to go so I'll probably wind up in the 4400 mile range.

I hear ya! It's been cloudy here for days. But today... for one day only... we have sun!

rainy morning but hope afternoon weather forecast is right.
 

60F and pouring rain. I put my toe covers inside my shoes :innocent: above my socks and it worked pretty well. Toes were dry for 7.5 miles the other 3 plus miles my feet were pretty soggy.

I wore my rain coat.. since i own a cycling specific one, body stayed dry for the most part... other than sweating. I wish my rain coat had zips up the bottom side of the sleeves. It would be perfect. It is supposed to be 71F on the way home. IN NOVEMBER.


new chainrings, chain, and cassette sure make the bike ride AWESOME TOO.

cold & clammy, no actual rain. A bit of wind but not like the last couple days.

Three round trips this week. The mornings have been cold, the evenings have been dark with a pretty half moon

There were warnings about heavy rain today, so I took the subway. So far, we've only had very light drizzle, but they say we might get up to 1.5 inches today and tonight.

Same here [MENTION=152773]noglider[/MENTION]. I sweated in my rain gear this morning. It just started raining a few minutes ago, so it looks like I made the right decision.:)

Strange ride home today. Got a late start due to a work-related function, and had a lot of false starts, but finally got going. And it just turned into a slog. Emotionally disaffected, seemed like some parts of me were too warm and others too cold. Hope I'm not getting sick.

I did come across the biggest, fattest jackrabbit I've ever seen around here.

I guess it really is November, 29F. Thankfully the winds were nominal and the sun made another appearance

A couple of centimeters of snow had fallen on the ground/road by the time I got out there, temp was a mild -2C (felt mild anyway) although there was a strong breeze (headwind for the first bit) that blew falling wet snow onto my face and occasionally into my eyes (I neglected to wear glasses this morning).

However, as I was riding, on my Kona Sutra with 700x35 tires, I noticed that I had slippage issues with the rear tire (the front Continental Contact that has softer rubber than the rear Schwalbe Marathon) so I took it easy. I also noticed that the wet snow compacted nearly into ice under car tires so I stayed in the untouched snow at the side of the roads when I could. However, as I was rounding a right turn, where car tires tended to hug the right side of the road, I had no untouched snow in which to ride and shortly after riding on the compacted ice-like snow, I went down. Fortunately, no cars behind me, no injury to me or my bike but it made me much more cautious for the rest of the ride. I figured that the busy street I would move on to next would have had all the snow under the car tires chewed up, leaving wet road surface. Wrong, I encountered a much wider portion of the road with compacted ice-like snow and I moved quickly to the side, unclipped my shoes and applied the brakes gently. Gently did nothing other than lock up both tires but with my feet out, one grazing the surface of the top of the curb, I was able to stay upright and slowly come to a stop. After that close call, I moved onto the sidewalk (encountering no pedestrians for the remaining 2.5km of the ride) and made it safely in to work.

I'll have to watch the weather more now and I should think about fixing up my winter bike sooner than later. The forecast is for 20-30cm (8-12in) snow overnight and tomorrow but no more for next week. However, as long as the temps stay low, tonight's dump will stay for a while.

Unless it gets mild enough today (it is supposed to get a bit milder) that the snow melts, I'll ride home on the sidewalks and bike paths.

We had the same thing down here in DC. While the Mt. Vernon Trail seems well-maintained, I didn't feel like taking a chance on wet leaves possibly landing on the trail in the evening after the storm(s).

Nice commute this morning after a day off riding yesterday. My favorite weather conditions today, sunny and chilly enough to keep to sweat down. However, I suspect that there will be a hefty headwind this afternoon with a cold front moving through the area.

Yesterday the stars all aligned for a perfect commuting week. I couldn't bike commute because I had a meeting on the other side of the town, and it was pouring rain (we had over 2"). So, I didn't have to miss bike commuting on a day with nice weather, which I hate. An added plus was that I was able to carpool with a coworker to the meeting, so I remained carless for the week. So, I was able to bike commute 4 out of 5 days this week, and it rained on the one day that I couldn't ride anyway. Win, win. With all the rain we have had lately, a 4-day commute week is outstanding for me. We are more than 10" above normal YTD on rainfall, with much of that excess occuring during the past few months.

Consecutive commute #144 :

They had predicted a chance of up to 2" of snow today starting in the afternoon. When I woke up I discovered that the band of weather had shifted farther north than expected, it was already snowing, and now they were thinking 4"-7".

I hadn't yet prepared my winter bike for the season (procrastination) but I figured I could probably get one ride out of it and then I could work on getting it into full shape over the weekend. I pulled it down from storage and decided to give it a quick once-over. I discovered the rear brake cable had completely seized, making the bike unrideable until repairs were made.

So, I decided my choices were to break my streak and drive the car, or ride my regular hybrid commuter. I decided to ride the hybrid.

Snow was falling rapidly. Temps were at about 30F which meant the snow that was accumulating was very wet. My glasses kept icing over and fogging. The closer I got to work the more slick the roads became. The tire tracks made by cars were particularly slippery as the compressed snow turned into a thin layer of ice. I definitely noticed that I didn't have studded tires on this bike. Several times I had the rear end slide out from me around corners, even though I was riding especially careful. Almost went down on one turn but managed to keep the bike upright.

About halfway to work my front derailleur iced up and would no longer shift down to the lowest ring. Then in my last mile I noticed the rear derailleur started to ice up as well. I got the bike into a useable gear and basically rode single speed the rest of the trip. I'm guessing I'll have to use that one gear the whole way home as the temps are supposed to continue falling and there won't be any melting going on.

When I arrived at work my fenders were packed with snow and the tires were rubbing. I decided that if I just left it as-is I would probably come out after work to find everything a solid block of ice. Rather than risk having a wheel that wouldn't turn, I went into the office kitchen and grabbed a knife from the silverware drawer. I went back outside and used the knife to dig all of the compacted snow out from the fenders and brakes. On my way back into the kitchen I discovered that wet bike shoes on a tile floor are extremely slippery and I almost hit the ground.

Snow is still falling steady. I'm guessing I'm going to have a treacherous, slow ride home after work. Days like today you realize that bike commuting isn't always easy and takes determination. :)

25F, peasoup fog, frosty frosty frosty. My (black-clad) legs were white and sparkly w/ frost by the time I got to the office.

Left the office yesterday a few minutes later than I should have, which meant that the commute was more dark than it would have been otherwise. And my light was dying. I had almost no light by the time I got home 80 minutes later.

The road construction detour is really pissing me off bad. I kept stopping on crappy gravel shoulders to let loads of traffic by me. A couple of cars here and there is no big deal to me, but I'm experiencing loads of cars on this otherwise 2-lane rural road that never saw too much traffic before the construction started. They were supposed to be finished with it this month, but at this point I'm not holding my breath.

I've been practically begging the state DOT to give me an update on every Facebook post they make, but haven't heard anything yet.

Yikes! Be safe out there @Tundra_Man and [MENTION=247277]jrickards[/MENTION].

It was great, right up to a block from my building when a driver intentionally squeezed me and tried to move me over. I failed today's Stoic test by not controlling my reaction and said some things I wish I hadn't.